Padang ekspres.net-China Academy of Space Technology put forward a plan to send a probe to Mars at the Third China Space Technology Forum in Beijing on Oct 21.The earliest that China will be able to launch a probe to Mars is November in 2013, as one to two years of exploration will need to be carried out, said forum participant Huang Jiangchuan, also chief designer of Chang'e-2 lunar satellite.

It is inevitable that China will pursue space explorations on Mars in order to close the gap of space technology between China and other countries, Huang said.